Commencement Speech by Ms. Dal Pra, Lucrezia, International Representative of 2017 Graduating Class, for the GBJ class of 2017

June 28, 2017

Honorable Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication, professors, families and friends, fellow graduates, today marks the commencement of a new chapter in the book of our lives.

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity I was given to be on this stage,and to open our graduation ceremony...even though at the beginning I doubted I would have made it without fainting.

The time we spent as GBJ students was an awakening experience, which didn’t fall short of challenges and obstacles. I'd like to thank the administration and faculty of Tsinghua University for their hard work and dedication on our behalf. We are indebted to our mentors, parents and friends that helped us to endure the storms, and enjoy our springs.Special thanks go to this wonderful country that made us feel at home most of the times, but also a little lost some others, and to the breathtaking impressions of our beautiful campus that became the special setting of our amazing Tsinghua adventure.

Most importantly, I would love to congratulate all of us for the hard work, the efforts and sacrifices that we all have made to get to this point, to reach yet another meaningful goal in our journey of growth and self-discovery.

As TizianoTerzani, a journalist who spent most of his life as a foreign correspondent in Asia, said “the meaning of the research relies on the journey, not on the destination. The meaning of traveling, is traveling itself, not arriving.” Therefore, even if today we are awarded by the satisfaction of our fresh achievements, we should probably look back and praise the two years that made today possible.

I can still clearly remember the first day of our orientation, the day when again, filled by self-doubt, I approached the well-known room 214, which later became theatre of practice, presentations and researches on the Bloomberg terminals. I was ready to meet my classmates-to-be, but my past experience in the education system had conveyed the message that those who study and work with you are people you compete against, and can’t be considered friends. That initial thought though, was soon replaced by a new feeling of curiosity and a deep interest toward each single one of you. Learning in such a multicultural environment, surrounded by amazing individuals shaped by the most diverse backgrounds and life experiences represents perhaps one of the most enriching opportunities that the GBJ program provided us with. We came to China as foreigners, but here we found our own dimension, experiencing not only China but the entire world. We are all unique in terms of personalities and skills and we converted this diversity into our own asset. So that one of the first values I appraised at Tsinghua would be: let cooperation win over competition. A victory is sweeter when it is shared.

Today we should all be on this podium, not just me.

Our first year was challenging, yet I would say satisfying. Some of us discovered a true interest toward journalism, some others nourished a passion that was already there and a few decided they would follow a different path. What we all share, though, is a passionate love for communication, no matter in which form, and the power that a message has in crafting the audience’s perception of the reality. Given the incidence and power that our knowledge attributes to us, I believe we now have a greater responsibility toward the society. We are a share of the luckiest part of the world which enjoys the privilege of knowledge (privilege, even if it should be called as such)and stand in front of goldmine: the chance to share it and to make use of this power to help the less fortunate to shine and have their voices heard. Quoting Oriana Fallaci: “There are moments in life when keeping silent becomes a fault, and speaking an obligation. A civic duty, a moral challenge, a categorical imperative from which we cannot escape.” I believe that, as journalist or anyway communicators, we can answer this call. So the second message I will take home from Tsinghua would be: knowledge is power, indeed, dedicate it to the community.

We have been shaped by the life-changing experience we made at Tsinghua, and in particular by the most important discovery of all: ourselves and our passions. During our first year, one of our professors organized a lunch for us to join and share our future plans and expectations with him. I remember how some of us, and maybe me in particular, didn’t have a clear vision of our own future. I personally left the room filled with insecurities and fears, I thought I wasn’t supposed to be in the first university in China as I hadn’t figured out my life yet. Now I understand that being successful isn’t measured by your GPA, your salary and career achievements, that being perfect in the eyes of the others doesn’t count. We all had a reason for being here, which was becoming the best-possible version of ourselves through the academic and life knowledge that we were gifted with. We were given the chance to get one step closer to our real selves and, again, we supported each other in doing so. Sometimes insecurity and inexperience may lead to embrace other people expectations and values, but I believed that here we learned to embrace our own interests, mistakes, passions, failures and hopes,and carve out our own path. The third and last message I would like to mention is: Nosce te ipsum, or know yourself, and take the risk.

Despite what the future holds and the turn we will take at this crossroad, we will always proudly feel a sense of belonging to Tsinghua University and, more specifically, to the GBJ program. A few precious suggestions have been carved in our hearts, and I quote: “Always keep it simple, express yourself in a way that your mother could understand;” “be concise, be precise, use an evocative language;” “pay religious attention to iris and white balance,” which could be translated into “keep your life in focus,” and obviously, our favorite “show, don’t tell.”

To conclude, I wish us the most promising future, I wish us to be proud about everything we do, and to take the risk, as we are now prepared to do so.

Good luck and Ad Meliora.

Thank you!